The Bombing of Japan

Boeing’s revolutionary B-29 Superfortress heavy bomber introduced to combat in 1944 was a game changer for the Pacific War. It was the only bomber in the world that could reach the isolated islands of Japan from Ally land bases.  Massive, crippling B-29 bombing of the Japanese homeland from the Marianas Islands (1500 miles away) brought Japan to its knees and surrender, avoiding an otherwise colossal loss of life on both sides from a planned Ally land invasion.

The B-29 could fly faster, higher, farther and with greater bomb capacity than any bomber of its era. The highly advanced aircraft had pressurized crew compartments, remote control gun turrets, radar navigation and state-of-the-art avionics.

The 6^th Bomb Group, with its 45 aircraft and crews, participated in a total of 75 B-29 combat bombing missions over Japan from Tinian Island in 1945. The 14-15 hour, over 3000 mile long range missions delivered devastating blows to the Japanese homeland through conventional and incendiary bombs and to its import shipping channels through dropped sea mines. More than 800 B-29 aircraft from 21 Marianas Islands bomb groups participated, collectively rendering Japan defenseless by destroying  its defense industry and severing its access to oil and other military critical raw materials. The infamous B-29 firebombing raids contributed heavily to the destruction of 40% of the built-up areas of 66 Japanese cities, including Tokyo. The bombing prompted a decision to surrender by the Japanese War Council in June 1945, two months prior to the dropping of the atomic bombs.

In July 1944, the U.S. Navy and Marines captured the Marianas Islands, Saipan, Tinian and Guam, 1500 miles south of Japan, putting the Allies within the mission range of America’s new B-29 bomber. In a “miracle of construction” Navy Seabees constructed ten 8500 foot long runways from crushed coral and 21 bomb group base camps on the islands allowing arrival of B-29s beginning in October 1944. By early 1945, the airfields based over 800 B-29s and their crews for the decisive bombing raids on Japan that ended the war. The 6^th Bomb Group operated from North Field on Tinian Island, the largest of the Marianas airfields (four runways) and largest airfield in the world at that time. The top secret 509^th Composite Group that dropped the world’s first atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was also based at North Field.

In March 1945, the U.S. Navy and Marines seized the strategically important island of Iwo Jima located roughly halfway between the U.S. B-29 bases in the Marianas and Japan. Iwo was the last Japanese air field within striking distance of the Marianas by Japanese aircraft. Japan had been using Iwo to stage destructive air raids against the Marianas bases and to intercept B-29s mid-route to Japan. The captured air field provided an emergency landing strip for flack and fighter damaged or fuel-starved B-29s as well as a base for U.S. fighter escort aircraft for the B-29 bombing missions. Some 2400 B-29s made emergency landings on or near the island, saving almost 27,000 American airmen lives.